A MAN was found to have a prohibited weapon when he accidentally shot himself in the face, it was alleged yesterday.

Defendant Anthony Gurney, 37, denies illegally possessing a maze gun in January of this year, and claims he was shot in the face by someone else.

A jury at Mold Crown Court heard prosecution allegations the defendant accidentally shot himself with the prohibited weapon, while unloading his 4x4 vehicle outside a friend's house.

Nicholas Williams, prosecuting, said the defendant, when he thought he was dying, told paramedics and police who arrived at the scene he had shot himself.

But after treatment in hospital with the bullet still in his face near the jaw he made a statement in which he said he had been shot by someone else.

Gurney, of Trem-y-Gardden in Afoneitha, Wrexham, is charged with having a prohibited weapon less than 24 inches in length, outside a house in Heol Mabon, Penycae.

Mr Williams told the jury the weapon was single shot, designed to fire .22 bullets. It had a very short barrel, which looked as if it had come from an air weapon, and a cylindrical brass body.

The gun was operated by pulling a spring-loaded rod back and releasing it. Mr Williams said it was known as a maze gun, similar to those made by prisoners at The Maze Prison during the Northern Ireland troubles.

It was the prosecution case the defendant bent down while unloading the vehicle and the gun fell out, struck the ground and went off, hitting the defendant in the face, and the bullet travelled up the jaw.

The defendant was treated with antibiotics and was then taken to the police station where he gave a no comment interview.

But he gave police a prepared statement in which he said he heard footsteps to his left, turned around, heard a loud bang and then felt tremendous pain to his face.

The person then ran off and he added: "I don't know who would do this to me."

Mr Williams told the jury that was the first time that he had ever mentioned anyone else had shot him and claimed it was a fabrication.

"The true story is the original version he gave to the paramedics and to the police when he thought that he was going to die," he alleged..

The gun was later retrieved from a nearby garden. The trial, before Judge John Rogers QC is proceeding.